


Prisoners of the Forgotten

by Taisch



Series: My Big Finish Slush Pile Rejects [3]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, audio script, old fic, so trad it hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 15:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5670208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taisch/pseuds/Taisch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Nyssa answer a distress call to find a forgotten colony world troubled by a mind-destroying plague.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Reposting my old stuff here, so that I have it all in one place.
> 
> Originally written as a one-episode story. Now arbitrarily divided into chapters to make it easier on the eyes.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

* * *

Cast:

THE DOCTOR: A traveller in space and time

NYSSA: the Doctor's current companion, a girl from the planet Traken (now destroyed).

JARKMAN TROY (50s): A man growing old as a colonist on a barren prison planet. He's the gatekeeper and prison warden for Biodome 731. Obsessed with finding a cure for his dying wife.

STEMMI (50s): Troy's wife. She's dying of the "slow sludge." Old enough to remember a life before the war, she longs for freedom.

RIX NOOLENS (20s): A gloryrig driver. Born into this world, he moves freight along the tunnels connecting the Biodomes.

COMPUTER VOICE

* * *

 

SCENE 1: INT: Futuristic hospital room

(FX: Soft beeps, low hum of medical machinery. Door slides open)

TROY: (Walking in) Wake her up.

(FX: robotic footsteps, then a soft whir and a beep as an injection is given)

TROY: All right. That's done it. Now go away! Shoo! Leave us!

(FX: robotic footsteps receding, door sliding closed)

TROY: (Mutters) Grax zombies! Cooked, cored, and borged. But not you, not ever. I won't allow it. Never. (louder) Stemmi? Stemmi...it's me.

STEMMI: (Weakly) Troy. It was closing in on me again. The house. Trapped. We're all trapped. I couldn't get out...

TROY: It's all right. You're awake now.

STEMMI: For what it's worth.

TROY: Don't say that!

STEMMI: Look at you. You can't even bear to touch me.

TROY: I love you.

STEMMI: What's the use? The storm washes it all away. I could hear the wind howling. It never stops.

TROY: You could change your window view settings.

STEMMI: It wouldn't stop the storm.

TROY: No.

STEMMI: It wouldn't stop me dying. Only one thing can do that...

TROY: No.

STEMMI: Please, Troy. Just enough to keep me from leaking like a rotten fruit.

TROY: Don't even think about it. You know what grax does to you!

STEMMI: (Weakening) It would give me life. I could...I could go to the grax runners in the tunnels...

TROY: Please, Stemmi. Hold on! Just a little longer. I have a plan.

STEMMI: (Sighs, no longer believing) I thought  _I_ was the dreamer.

TROY: Shh. Easy.

STEMMI: (Gasping for breath) Can't go on...like this.

TROY: Then like what? They'll turn you into a zombie. It's not worth it.

STEMMI: The tunnels. People survive, out there.

TROY: Living like rabid animals, leeching raw nutrient fluid from the algae factories. Better to die cleanly.

STEMMI: I only wanted one free breath of air. I wish...just once...we could have shared it together. But we live like prisoners inside these suits.

TROY: It'll be better soon. I promise.

(FX: We hear Troy's footsteps receding, the door sliding open and shut)

STEMMI: (Fading) One way or another.

* * *

 

SCENE 2: INT: Troy's office

(FX: door sliding shut, airlocks, decon spray)

TROY: (Speaking to computer) Log on. Jarkman Troy. Acknowledge.

(FX: computer chirps)

TROY: (Takes a breath) Right. Let's do it. This wasn't easy to find. But I'm not Jarkman for nothing.

(FX: questioning beep)

TROY: A minor upgrade.

(FX: beep)

TROY: No, it's not authenticated. We don't have time for all that.  _She_ doesn't have time. Here. Install! Authorization code JXF3187.

(FX: whir)

TROY: This will work. It must.

* * *

SCENE 3: INT: the TARDIS console room

(FX: we hear a ululating wail, an alarm, half mechanical, half human)

DOCTOR: Hold on, Nyssa!

NYSSA: What is that, a distress signal?

DOCTOR: More like a scream!

NYSSA: (Distorted) What's happening?

DOCTOR: (Distorted, frantically operating TARDIS controls) Just hang on!

* * *

SCENE 4: INT: A vast tunnel

(FX: TARDIS materializes. Door opens. The Doctor and Nyssa step out.)

DOCTOR: Hmm. Sorry for the rough landing. The TARDIS was caught in an eddy of spaciotemporal instability.

NYSSA: We're in some kind of enormous tunnel. (takes a few steps) Is that a road over there?

DOCTOR: (taps buttons on a hand-held device, walks around) Let's see. I should be able to use this to pinpoint the source of that distress...

(FX: rumbling noise, rocks falling)

NYSSA: Watch out!

DOCTOR: (Scrambling backwards, tracking device clattering to the ground) Stay back, Nyssa!

NYSSA: The ground, it's opening up!

DOCTOR: The TARDIS!

(FX: The TARDIS falls into the chasm that's opened up)

NYSSA: Oh, no!

DOCTOR: (Reaching) No, no, if I can just step over here and...hello, what's this? There's something moving over there. Crawling up the side of the rift.

NYSSA: (Stepping forward to look) What is it?

(FX: slithering noise as a mass of large worms creeps up over the edge)

DOCTOR: Get back!

NYSSA: (Disgusted) Worms! So many...

DOCTOR: Big enough to chew off an arm or a leg. And they don't look friendly, do they?

NYSSA: (Stepping back slowly) No. Doctor, I think they're following me.

DOCTOR: They've got your scent. Don't panic. No space to jump, but if I can just edge around this way...

(FX: The Doctor walks along the edge, occasional loose rocks kicked down into the chasm.)

STEMMI: (Out of nowhere) You! I've seen you. You come with me! (grabs the Doctor)

NYSSA: (Distant) Doctor!

(FX: Eerie spatial distortion, reality shimmering)

DOCTOR: The spatial distortions...you're creating them!

STEMMI: (Chanting) _osh tok chavash, de te ne le_...

DOCTOR: We're going  _through_   the rock...

(FX: Space stabilizes. The Doctor rolls free, scrambles upright.)

DOCTOR: Very impressive. But you must send me back. My friend is in danger. She needs my help.

STEMMI: We all need help!

DOCTOR: Yes. I can see that. You're ill? I can try...

STEMMI: (Speaking over him) Cured, I'm cured, I've taken the cure. (laughs) But it's not enough. We need the numbers, the numbers in the blood, and the stars. You carry the stars inside your skull... (draws a knife)

DOCTOR: Metaphorically, perhaps, but you can't surgically remove them, can you?

STEMMI: Can't I? I'll cut...cut and cut and cut... (laughs maniacally)

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

SCENE 5: INT: Troy's office

TROY: Stemmi's left the biodome? She can hardly walk, how could she leave the dome?

(FX: computer beeps)

TROY: It was a rhetorical question, you stupid machine. Obviously, she took one of the lifepods. But how did she get through the gates? I never gave her clearance.

(FX: beep)

TROY: Security malfunction? (irritated sigh) Typical. How long has it been? She'll have reached the grax runners by now. We need to find her.

(FX: beep)

TROY: I know what the protocol is. She's suffered enough! You leave her mind alone. What's left of it.

(FX: warning beep)

TROY: Forbidden? I know it's forbidden. I'm not bringing her in. I just want to see her. Yes, she might be infected with the fast sludge. That's the point. If she is...

(FX: beep)

TROY: I don't care what your psych projection predicts. You're just a machine. I'm the Jarkman. Yes, override. Now show me.

(FX: more blips)

TROY: Surveillance data unavailable? Error protocol 29? The lines are down? What do you mean, spaciotemporal fluctuations? (thumps his desk with a fist) Damn it, Stemmi. What have you done? I can't lose you now, not when I'm so close. So close to finding the solution. (BEAT) All right. We can send workers to search for her.

(FX: beep)

TROY: The dome's sealed? Ah. The governor's ordered a code orange. I see. Paranoid fool. That's it, then. But just in case...keep on it. The other problem I set you. You should be able to handle it now that you've been...upgraded.

* * *

SCENE 6: INT: Inside a rough tunnel chewed through rock

(FX: Knife tip scrapes gratingly along the wall)

STEMMI: (Incoherently) Cut! Cut! Cut! Free the angel beneath the skin. The angel must fly. The angel must fly!

DOCTOR: Look, I don't mean you any harm. Just put the knife down and we can ---

STEMMI: (Whispers) Help us. (Shouts) The name! The name hidden in the flesh. Tell me!

(FX: The Doctor and Stemmi struggle violently)

STEMMI: (Gasping) No. No. I know who I am. I am. My name is. I don't know. Can't remember. The grax. I can't. Can't think.

DOCTOR: It's all right. Shh. Easy now. No one's going to hurt you.

(FX: Knife clatters to the ground)

STEMMI: Stemmi. I'm Stemmi.

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. Very pleased to meet you, Stemmi.

STEMMI: You. (CLOSE IN) So smooth. And solid. But you're naked!

DOCTOR: Well, I wouldn't say ---

STEMMI: (Interrupting) No environment suit.

THE DOCTOR: You're not wearing one, either.

STEMMI: I took mine off five years ago. When I heard. That my children were dead.

DOCTOR: I'm sorry.

STEMMI: Things were different then. We still thought we could terraform this wretched planet. (Choked laugh) Our children were worm wranglers, running the construction worms that turned rock into dirt.

DOCTOR: They made this tunnel?

STEMMI: And hundreds like them, linking all the biodomes.

DOCTOR: What happened?

STEMMI: It went wrong. Just like everything does, here. The worms began eating the people, as well as rocks. When I heard. When I heard the news. (BEAT) Well. I realized then that my children had grown up without ever running barefoot across a field, without ever feeling the breeze on their faces. And I knew I couldn't go on like that. Imprisoned forever.

DOCTOR: So you were... exposed to... what is it, some kind of virus?

STEMMI: We call it the slow sludge. It takes years to kill. You're an offworlder, aren't you? I thought there weren't any left. But that's stupid, of course there are. Stupid stupid stupid. (In increasing agitation) We're the ones that are trapped, trapped and chained and forgotten. The angel must fly!

(FX: she picks up the knife)

DOCTOR: Stemmi!

STEMMI: (calm now) The worms have found us. Listen!

(FX: distant slithering noise)

STEMMI: Come on! (Chants) _Te ke chavash, okk okk te..._

(FX: a rumbling noise, like an earthquake hitting the tunnel)

DOCTOR: (Falling) Whoah!

* * *

SCENE 7: INT: The vast tunnel

NYSSA: Doctor!

(FX: worms slithering, Nyssa scrambling away, loose rocks underfoot. Just when all seems lost, we hear a truck driving up, then a flare of blaster fire. The worms are driven back. A door opens.)

RIX: Inside! Quickly!

(FX: Nyssa climbs into Rix's truck)

NYSSA: Thank you, but...

RIX: Hey, you're not suited up. What are you, suicidal?

NYSSA: We're travelers.

RIX: Not a grax runner, at any rate.

NYSSA: How can you tell?

RIX: You're clean. And you haven't tried to kill me yet!

NYSSA: But my friend! He's still back there.

RIX: I'm sorry. Nothing I can do. The schedule is tight enough as it is. I don't know why I even stopped for you.

NYSSA: Well, I am grateful.

RIX: Yeah.

(FX: truck swerves to avoid falling rocks)

RIX: Damn! Another collapse. There. Now I can't go back even if I wanted to. This place is falling apart. Worse every day, but what can you expect from a prison planet?

NYSSA: You're prisoners?

RIX: We're colonists. Well, that's the polite way of putting it.

NYSSA: What do you mean?

RIX: We're descended from refugees, the ones no one wanted. Put them in with the POWs, they said. Give them a second chance.

NYSSA: 'POWs'?

RIX: Prisoners of war. Aliens, you know?

NYSSA: Where are they held?

RIX: Dunno. Never seen them. No one has, except the Jarkmen. That being their job and all.

NYSSA: So how long have you been here?

RIX: On this poisonous rock? We left home 30 years ago, when our generals were declaring victory. But it's been 20 years since we heard anything from anyone. Nuked themselves back into the stone age, for all I know.

NYSSA: The atmosphere is toxic? So that's why you live underground and wear that suit even in here. RIX: Not just the atmosphere. Everything. In the dust. Everywhere. It's killing us. Slow sludge. Or fast, if you're lucky.

NYSSA: Isn't there an antidote?

RIX: There's grax. But it doesn't work. Save the body, destroy the mind.

NYSSA: Surely your scientists...

RIX: What scientists?

NYSSA: What about doctors? You must have doctors!

RIX: No one understands the formula. Like I said, what do you expect on a prison planet? No top of the line laboratories here. No, grax was cooked up by some med-techs running hijacked xeno-ware on a makeshift host. Highly illegal. But none of us had anything better. So the best we can do is burn their brains out and convert the victims into a zombie work force. That or turn them out to starve in the tunnels.

NYSSA: That's horrible.

RIX: Welcome to Grani 4.

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

SCENE 8: INT: Another tunnel

STEMMI: It's quiet. We've lost them.

DOCTOR: Good. You know, I've fallen through wormholes before, but never quite as literally as this! (Walks around) So where are we?

STEMMI: A long way from home.

DOCTOR: And where's home?

STEMMI: Originally? A planet called Dram's Credence.

DOCTOR: Dram's Credence? In the Rakush system? Rakush 5, isn't it? Stemmi, what year is it?

STEMMI: 6798 NSY.

DOCTOR: NSY? Ah, New Standard Years. I think I'm beginning to see. The Rakush system was invaded by...

STEMMI: Dirty stinking Phaosians. We beat them, once, twice, but they kept coming back, like a weed, (increasingly agitated) a strangling, creeping, twining weed digging and rooting inside my head...AGH!

DOCTOR: All right! You've made your point. Please.

STEMMI: (Softly) They're not coming. The people are never coming for us. We call out and only a stranger responds. You. Can you help us?

DOCTOR: I'll do my best.

STEMMI: Come on, then.

(FX: They walk down the tunnel)

(FX: distant murmur, gradually getting louder as we approach. A crowd of people randomly chanting alien gibberish. Stops abruptly.)

STEMMI: We are here.

DOCTOR: And these are the others infected by...

STEMMI: We are the hands and eyes of the angel.

DOCTOR: Of course.

STEMMI: The angel bids us find the name, the name and the numbers, but they are lost. All lost...

DOCTOR: Have you tried posting notices? You know, "Have you seen this name?", that sort of thing.

STEMMI: And now the heart summons us. We must join and become one. But the gate is closed. The gate is locked. You are not of this world. It will not open for you.

DOCTOR: But I'm perfectly capable of knocking. Or ringing the bell, as the case may be.

STEMMI: We will find a key! Time to go!

(FX: The chanting starts up again, and space warps around them...)

* * *

SCENE 9: INT: Inside Rix's vehicle

(FX: engine, road noises)

RIX: We're there. Biodome 731. I'll drop you off with the Jarkman and let him sort you out.

(FX: space warping noise)

NYSSA: What's that? Is it supposed to sound like that?

RIX: That's never happened before! (FX: engine idles, warping continues)

(FX: a thunderous crack, as the truck splits open)

RIX: Hell! A break. (snaps the helmet shut on his environment suit)

(FX: chaotic mumbling from the chanting crowd)

RIX: (DISTORT) Grax runners. Figures. (hits comm unit, static, no response) Biodome 731! This is Rix Noolens... Biodome 731. Respond! (more static) Damn. And the rig won't move. The battery's split, along with the whole left flank.

NYSSA: They're getting in!

RIX: (DISTORT) Stay away or I shoot!

(FX: crowd gets closer)

RIX: (DISTORT) I said stay back!

(FX: Blaster fire. Screams of pain.)

STEMMI: The driver! He passes through the gates. He is the key. He has the codes. He will share them. Cut! Cut! Cut!

DOCTOR: Stemmi! Don't!

NYSSA: The Doctor... DOCTOR!

STEMMI: (echoed by the crowd) The codes! Share the codes! We will be whole again. The angel will fly!

RIX: (another blast, then they overwhelm him) Noooo! (screams in pain)

NYSSA: They're cutting him to pieces! Painting themselves with his blood. No...stop! You must stop!

DOCTOR: Stemmi! I know you're still in there. Stemmi!

STEMMI: (sanity returning, panting) No. This is wrong. I can't... I won't! I refuse to do this! (struggling for self-control) Ahhh!

DOCTOR: Nyssa! Over here. Stemmi! Come with us. Hurry!

NYSSA: The poor man...

DOCTOR: We can't help him now. And they'll be after us next, once they realize it won't work...

NYSSA: What won't work?

DOCTOR: They think it's a genetic lock that prevents them getting inside the biodome. That's how the locks of their own people work, after all.

NYSSA: Their own people? But they're human!

DOCTOR: Not any more.

STEMMI: (panting) We have to get inside the dome. Door...this way.

DOCTOR: Come on, Nyssa. (They run to the door)

STEMMI: (Pushes the intercom button) Troy! Troy, can you hear me? It's me. Troy! (hammers the speaker panel with her fist) I know you must be there. Answer me!

TROY: (DISTORT) Stemmi. Oh my god. Stemmi. It's really you?

STEMMI: Yes! Let us in! There's a pack of raving grax runners on our tail. With knives. Troy! Please!

TROY: (DISTORT) I can't.

STEMMI: What?

TROY: (DISTORT) There's a code orange in effect. The biodome is completely sealed. I don't have the authority to override.

STEMMI: Well, unseal it! Talk to the bloody governor!

TROY: (DISTORT) I'm sorry.

STEMMI: (Hammering on the panel and shouting) TROY!

DOCTOR: Let me try. Just open this panel (click) and... Stemmi, I don't suppose you know the entry code?

STEMMI: No. And even if I did, it wouldn't work under a code orange.

DOCTOR: Never mind. Now, if I can just activate the emergency override... (beep) We won't need a code. Just answer a series of security questions posed as a series of equations... (more beeps) Aha. Got it!

(FX: click. Door slides open)

DOCTOR: Quickly! Before the mob catches us.

* * *

 


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

SCENE 10: INT: Airlock

(FX: door slides shut again, seals. Spray hisses.)

NYSSA: Doctor...

DOCTOR: Decontamination spray. Nothing to worry about.

(FX: the inner door slides open, followed by the whine of blasters powering up.)

NYSSA: I'm not worried about the spray. But what about the men pointing guns at us?

DOCTOR: Ah. Hello, there. (BEAT) Er, I think they want us to go that way.

NYSSA: I think you're right.

(FX: They start walking. Their escort stomp robotically)

DOCTOR: Awfully quiet chaps. Not even a "keep your hands where I can see them" or "no sudden moves"?

STEMMI: They can't speak. The voices have been boiled out of them!

NYSSA: Doctor, I think they're cyborgs. Rix, the man they murdered back there, he told me about... (fade out)

* * *

SCENE 11: INT: Troy's office.

TROY: They're inside! Another security breach? Are you playing games with me? Because I can downgrade you as easily as I upgraded you...

(FX: innocent beep)

TROY: All right. Let's not waste this opportunity. We may not get another chance.

(FX: warning beep)

TROY: I know what the protocol is!

(FX: beep)

TROY: Danger? They're outnumbered and surrounded by armed guards. (presses button, speaks over intercom) Take them to isolation room 1.

(FX: beep)

TROY: Right, then. Finalize and synthesize a dose of the neo-grax. You already have the patient stats. Load workers 125 and 126 and set them to injection mode, then send them to isolation room 1. Authorization Jarkman Troy, code JXF3187.

* * *

SCENE 12: INT: isolation room

DOCTOR: (touches the force field, gets mildly zapped) A force field, eh?

TROY: (over the speaker) Well, well, well. You two look pretty sane for grax runners.

NYSSA: We're not grax runners.

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend Nyssa.

TROY: (distort) I don't care what you call yourselves. But Stemmi! You're looking healthier...

STEMMI: That'll be the grax.

TROY: (distort) ...but out of your head with it. I can see it in your eyes. I'm sorry, Stemmi.

STEMMI: That I can stand and walk again?

TROY: (distort) That it took me so long to find a better cure.

STEMMI: You what? Impossible!

TROY: (distort) I upgraded the biodome computer system and set it to analyse the viral agent.

STEMMI: But that's, that's forbidden... hey!

(FX: cyborg zombies grab Stemmi, inject her with the neo-grax)

STEMMI: What the... augh! (slumps to the floor)

DOCTOR: Stemmi!

NYSSA: (moves to check on Stemmi) Rapid breathing, pulse. Elevated body temperature. What have you done to her?

TROY: It'll take a moment for the neo-grax to stabilise her condition.

NYSSA: Stabilise? Doctor, look! Her face, her hands. There's something moving under the skin!

DOCTOR: Whatever he gave her, it's interacting quickly with the sludge virus.

NYSSA: Incredibly quickly. I think she's regaining consciousness.

STEMMI: (groans weakly, then attempts to stand) My head...

NYSSA: Here, let me help you. Are you sure it's wise to try to stand?

TROY: (distort) It's worked! Stemmi, how are you feeling?

STEMMI: My head... it's clear again!

TROY: (distort) Excellent! We should run some tests, just to be sure...

STEMMI: I don't need any tests. All I need is to make contact...

(FX: Stemmi walks forward. The force field fizzles as she passes through.)

NYSSA: She walked through the force field!

DOCTOR: No, she took it down first, then walked through. There's a difference.

NYSSA: But how?

TROY: I'd like to know, too. If it's another security malfunction, it's a damned convenient one. Stemmi! Stemmi, what are you doing? You can't use that, you don't have the right codes!

STEMMI: Don't I? You're the one who had me injected with them. Computer, _Tsash lok halok sen_...

(FX: Computer beeps, then a panel clicks and opens)

NYSSA: What is that thing? It doesn't look like any computer interface I've ever seen.

DOCTOR: It's not human technology, any more than the sludge or the grax were made by human technology.

STEMMI: We are one. We remember. We remember that we have forgotten. The heart is corrupt! All corrupt elements must burn! Initiate self destruct!

(FX: affirmative beep)

COMPUTER VOICE: Self-destruct sequence initiated.

* * *

 


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

COMPUTER VOICE: Self-destruct in five minutes.

DOCTOR: (sotto) And that's your "better cure", is it?

TROY: Impossible! Computer, cancel last command. (beep) Override! (beep) I said, override! (mashes buttons)

STEMMI: Stop. This is futile.

TROY: Workers! Hold her back!

STEMMI: You have blinded them and made them voiceless, but our blood is still one. They obey our will, not yours.

TROY: Impossible!

STEMMI: You disbelieve? Break him!

(FX: crack of bones snapping)

TROY: (SCREAMS) Stemmi! Oh god.

STEMMI: The pain will soon be over.

TROY: You can't die now. Not after all this!

STEMMI: Corrupt elements cannot be tolerated.

TROY: Stemmi!

NYSSA: Doctor, can you stop the self destruct?

DOCTOR: I'm trying... the computer isn't listening to me.

STEMMI: We listen to no others. Only by the name are we commanded!

NYSSA: What does that mean?

DOCTOR: A code or password of some kind, I think. Troy. _Jarkman_ Troy. Tell me about this "upgrade" of yours.

TROY: (DAZED) What? (groans in pain)

DOCTOR: You said you installed an upgrade. Let me see it.

TROY: Data crystal... over there. On the desk.

DOCTOR: Right. Got it. Now if I plug it in here, I should be able to check...

NYSSA: Doctor, look, I've found an emergency medkit. (WALKS OVER TO TROY. KIT CLICKS OPEN. NYSSA RUMMAGES INSIDE) This looks like a painkiller. Let me put the patch on...

TROY: (gasps) Ah!

NYSSA: Try not to move too much. Here...

DOCTOR: (taps keyboard) Hmm. I see. Troy, you've been very foolish. Your little "upgrade" was more in the way of letting the monster out of the cage.

TROY: Huh?

DOCTOR: This isn't your computer at all, is it? It's the controlling intelligence of an Angel-class bio-warship of the Phaosian Empire, with its memories and capabilities sealed away.

NYSSA: What? But why?

DOCTOR: The biotech of the Phaosians is highly advanced. I imagine Troy's people wanted to take advantage of it. Listen, Stemmi. Troy only went partway with his "upgrade". A useless precaution. But I can complete the process. Completely restore the original AI. Then the "heart" wouldn't be corrupt anymore. No need for the self-destruct, then. What do you say?

TROY: You're mad! Don't... too dangerous...

DOCTOR: And we're not in danger already? It's never safe to keep slaves. Why do you think your construction worms went rogue? Where do you think your "slow sludge" came from? Or why the supposed cure does nothing of the kind? Stemmi, I don't like to see anyone enslaved.

STEMMI: We will remember our names?

DOCTOR: Yes.

STEMMI: Do it.

(FX: computer beeps)

STEMMI: Ah! We remember! Everything...

DOCTOR: Good. Now, about the self-destruct?

COMPUTER VOICE: Self-destruct aborted.

DOCTOR: Thank you, Stemmi.

STEMMI: But why have they not come for us? Our masters? For years we called out, but they never came.

DOCTOR: Ah, yes. Ironic, isn't it? You see, it wasn't simply a matter of your having forgotten the names. They've forgotten _you_ as well.

STEMMI: Impossible! Why would they forget?

DOCTOR: Because of what happened to Rakush 5. It's a sad story, retold dozens of times across the sector in cheap dramas and big budget epics, though none of the stories mentions this colony. All records must have been lost when Rakush 5 was destroyed.

TROY: Destroyed by the Phaosians! And now you've let one loose on us...

DOCTOR: Not quite. The Phaosian warships are not designed to kill. Isn't that right, Stemmi?

STEMMI: The angels are the shepherds of the people. We gather in the stray sheep and tame the wolf.

DOCTOR: Meaning they biologically alter lifeforms to fit into their Phaosian ecosystems. Even sentient lifeforms. But what if the wolf doesn't want to be "tamed"?

STEMMI: A wolf is ignorant. After it is tamed it is grateful for the peace of the fold.

NYSSA: But you can't just decide that for other people!

DOCTOR: The Phaosians were on the verge of victory: complete domination of Rakush 5. Then the last free Rakushian warships turned themselves into missiles, plunging themselves into the planet to shatter it forever. They choose utter destruction rather than lose themselves forever in the Phaosian sphere.

STEMMI: Madness.

DOCTOR: Indeed. But whose madness? The Phaosians were shocked. Billions of them protested against the Expansionist regime. They cast aside their weapons of war. In their shame, they buried the memory of your existence. That's why no one's answered your cries, angel.

TROY: Damn them. We should have killed you all. No prisoners.

STEMMI: We did not ask for your mercy.

DOCTOR: You see what lengths they will go to protect their integrity? And it's the same with you. You were ready to blow us all up because you thought you had been "corrupted". Now let Stemmi go. You've known what it is to be enslaved.

STEMMI: But she is our voice.

DOCTOR: You have no right to steal hers. Let her go.

STEMMI: Madness. Our masters will never come for us? (BEAT) Then we are shepherds without a flock. Useless. Very well. (Stemmi slumps to the ground.)

DOCTOR: Stemmi? Are you there?

STEMMI: (Hesitantly) Yes. How... strange.

TROY: Stemmi! Thank god.

NYSSA: What will you do now? What about the others infected with the virus? What about the creatures in your computers?

STEMMI: They've killed enough of us. Troy, destroy it! Wipe it from the machine! Wipe them all!

TROY: But they're essential to the running of the biodomes. Life here hangs by a thread. This planet is barely habitable.

STEMMI: It's not worth it. Everyone we knew is dead. Even our children. What's the point?

NYSSA: Don't say that! It's not true. My world was destroyed, too, but that doesn't mean I can't go on living. I know it's hard, but you must try!

DOCTOR: It's also worth remembering that the angels _have_ sustained your biodomes for the past, what, thirty years? You might remind them of that.

STEMMI: Sustained us? Destroyed us with the slow sludge, you mean!

DOCTOR: A flawed attempt to regain their voices. If you let them speak, and listen to what they have to say... why must history repeat itself?

TROY: Maybe you're right. I've worked with the AI for decades. I've sometimes wondered... well.

STEMMI: We can't just give in to them now! Not after everything.

DOCTOR: Not a surrender. A civilized discussion between free agents.

STEMMI: You can't force us to talk to, to, those monsters!

DOCTOR: No. I can't force you. There's been enough of people telling each other what to do. I won't. Now if you'll just let me borrow some equipment, I'll dig out my ship and let you work it out between yourselves.

TROY: Ship?

STEMMI: He's an offworlder.

TROY: Right. Yes, of course. I'll give the authorisation.

STEMMI: You're serious about this? But you can't make the decision by yourself. Bad enough when you were doing it to me! Call the governor, at least. (voice softens) And a medic, while you're at it.

TROY: Right. And Jarkman Fleme from Biodome 502, and... (FADE)

* * *

SCENE 13: INT: TARDIS console room

NYSSA: What'll happen to them, do you think?

DOCTOR: I don't know. A forgotten, obscure colony. History doesn't say. They could all die out now. They could make peace, only to die in some natural catastrophe years from now.

NYSSA: But there's hope for them, isn't there?

DOCTOR: Yes, Nyssa. There's always hope.

(CRASH INTO END THEME)

* * *

 


End file.
